Photo catchup

 

Keeping me laughing....and slightly insane.

 

The Patterson stare down :)

 

Hoover park day!

 

Fight night! Mayweather beat Pacquiao :(

My snuggle bud after nap!

Family night! Whew these babies keep us all running. We said we can't wait for when they are all 5+ playing upstairs together on their own and we can have a small amount of adult conversation ;)

Josh turned 32 May 2nd so we celebrated with olive garden, cookie pie, brownies, and ice cream!

2 teeth came in this week and did a number on C's little spirit...pic 1 he is getting himself out of timeout (which he put himself in for throwing, ha). Pic 2 is my brain about to explode from being screamed at all day...poor bud. They are in now though and hopefully we can get a teeth break!!

 

Grilling out! C has been following daddy around everywhere lately and it's super cute :)

 

Teething on some corn!

Getting braver exploring new play places! We've been on the hunt for some good ones to go to this summer once Connor is here and it's super hot out!

 

Daddy and C at the top! Colin loves following the big kids too. He talks so much to other kids!

 

Today after school we went back to Chick fil a's play place while Derek went to work. He got to play with 2 girls that we're about 10 and LOVED them. He followed them everywhere and giggled the whole hour we were there. Thankfully most kids (esp the girls) think he's adorable and love playing with him!

 

This weekend we had family/Colin's 18month pictures and I'm excited to get them back soon! Sunday Derek started his new job. His 1st shift went well and he liked the staff. It's a learning curve with a new charting system and not having scribes, but we're hopeful he'll love this job and we'll get to see him more often! So proud of how hard he works and his support of me being at home for a little longer with (almost) 2 kiddos!

Chicago Part 2!

Wrigleyville was so fun! We walked to Goose Island Brewery before the game for drinks (I had a great orange soda ;)) and test talk. Both guys were glad to be done and Alicia and I celebrated retiring as pretend patients, haha. Wrigley field was nothing like I expected! I pictured a stadium like Atlanta's and it was so different! It was in the middle of a normal neighborhood and much smaller! The scoreboard was manual and there was seating on the roofs of the surrounding townhouses. It was so neat and we hope we can go back again one day!
 

 

The fans were so fun and into the game. They won 4-0 and everyone was happy!

We sat on the 2nd row 1/2 the game, then the guys sat in the front row. We were behind the visitors dugout (Pirates) and it was cool sitting so close to the players walking around. There was the nicest security guy in our section and he noticed we kept trying to get the ball after each inning (of course they were only given to the kids).  After the game he went on the field and got me one of the game balls and tossed it to me. So so nice!
 

 

Connor's first game ball!

 

 Fun time with sweet friends! After the game we hung out a local sports bar and then split ways. Miss them already!!

Tuesday was our last day to site see. We took the train to the Willis Tower and went up to the 102nd floor to the Skydeck. I did this in maybe 8th grade on a choir tour and still remember how scary high it was!
 

No fear in this man standing on the see through floor!

Beautiful clear day to see the views!

Me and my love! Trips with him are the best :)

We of course had to have the famous stuffed pizza for lunch! So cheesy and good. We couldn't finish it though and gave a few pieces to a homeless man that was super grateful for food.

The famous 'Bean' in Millennium Park. Still not sure the story behind the bean, but it was a big tourist attraction.

Another 'Bean' pic and the Chicago theatre. Next time we'll have to do a show!

We got our luggage and went to the airport early afternoon to wait on our flight. We had a great time! The Chicago people we nice, it wasn't too crowded, and we saw so much in a short time! Our feet sure were done though! We were very ready to fly back to our nugget :) Sunday night-Tues night he stayed with Poppy and Mimi. He had some special cousin visits and had a ball with them. Thanks parents for all your help! We're glad he had so much fun, but it will be a long, long time before leaving him for more than a night or 2 again! We have to get our sidekick out in the world and start experiencing cool things as a family of (almost) 4 :)
 

Man time! Colin was definitely surprised to see me Wednesday morning, ha. He then preceded to give Derek and I a hard time for a few days. Guess I forgot about that part of when we were spoiled by grandparents as kids and then had to go back to reality ;) We're finally back in the groove now!

Chicago!

Saturday afternoon we flew to Chicago! It was finally time for Derek to take his last boards test for the next 10 years! I'm glad I got to tag along! After the stressful Sat/Sun morning around the test, we had a lot of fun! This was our first trip without C or friends since New York 2.5 years ago!

 

Connor's first flight :)

We got checked in, studied, and went to bed! Woke up to room service breakfast and it was test time!

 

I wasted time in the room and relaxed. Soon enough it was 1 and Derek was done! He won't get his results for 3 months, but felt good about it and was excited to be done with studying! So proud of my hubs and how hard he's worked the last 10+ years to be a doc! We caught the train to downtown to check in at our next hotel and went out site seeing! We met up with Paul and Alicia (Paul had his test the next day) and had some drinks to catch up. Then Derek and I split off and went to an Irish pub that was underground and cool!

 

 

 

 

Monday we woke up ready to go! We went to the Field science and history museum first. It was such a big place, we say 2/3rds of it and it took 1/2 the day! It was by the waterfront and so pretty. 40 degree weather was quite nice for this preggo woman :)

They had a great exhibits and we learned a lot!

Dinosaur exhibit was a favorite!

 

You see that pier? The one on the other side of all those buildings?! Well we walked the waterfront (so pretty) all the way there. An hour later we made it there with numb ears and noses and a good amount of windburn :) It looked so close!

 

We got some lunch at Harry Caray's and walked around the pier for a bit. Not many people were there (still not tourist season) so we took our time and got some great caramel popcorn on the way out!

 

 

We walked another mile to the hotel and took a much needed break with our popcorn :) We met up with Alicia at the train and headed to meet Paul at Wrigleyville! That will have to wait until post 2! The first 1/2 of our trip Colin stayed with Doozie and Nana. He had a big time and we didn't have to worry. He's definitely a loved little man and I'm sure got a ton of attention :) We missed him though and we're excited to take him with us next time! There was so much for kids there -the park, children's museum, aquarium...in a few years the boys will have a blast there!